By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, March 20 – The Canadian dollar was stronger against the US dollar at midsession Friday, lifted by a rebound in crude oil values, analysts said.
At 11:30 CDT Friday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.7955 or US$1=C$1.2571, which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$0.7858 or US$1=C$1.2726.
Ideas that Thursday’s losses were overdone provided further support, as did Wednesday’s US Federal Reserve announcement. US Fed officials said they will wait more labour market improvement before thinking about raising interest rates.
However, disappointing Canadian economic data limited the upside. Statistics Canada said the Consumer Price Index rose 1.0 per cent in the 12 months to February.
Retail sales data was also disappointing, as StatsCan said sales dropped by 1.7 per cent to C$41.4 billion due to lower gasoline prices.
The Toronto Stock Exchange was up 108.44 points, or 0.73%, at 11:30 CDT Friday, to sit at 14,982.37.
